2. Atlantic Salmon (
Salmo salar) - Ova and Smolts

Production survey information was collected from all 26
companies actively involved in the freshwater production of
Atlantic salmon, farming 87 active sites. This figure represents
the entire freshwater industry operating in Scotland.

Company and Site Data

Table 12: Number of companies and sites in
production during 2007-2016

Year

No. of companies

No. of sites

2007

37

135

2008

38

130

2009

30

105

2010

31

104

2011

28

98

2012

28

100

2013

27

102

2014

26

96

2015

25

87

2016

26

87

In 2016 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish
Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon increased
by one to 26. A total of 87 sites were actively engaged in
commercial production, which remained the same as the 2015
figure.

Smolt production in 2016 decreased by 4% compared to 2015. The
number of staff employed in 2016 remained the same and productivity
decreased by 3.8% to a figure of 145.9 smolts produced per person.
Data for staffing and productivity in 2013 are shown, however,
there are uncertainties with these data due to consolidation within
the industry.

Smolts by Age Group

Table 14: Number of smolts (000's) produced by
type during 2004-2016

Year

S½

S1

S1½

S2

Total

2004

14,428

24,862

709

0

39,999

2005

12,639

22,197

1,489

1

36,326

2006

16,953

23,172

698

4

40,827

2007

15,431

22,694

0

0

38,125

2008

12,431

24,019

0

0

36,450

2009

13,837

23,031

0

0

36,868

2010

14,116

22,756

0

0

36,872

2011

17,233

26,393

0

0

43,626

2012

18,795

25,239

290

0

44,324

2013

19,024

21,279

154

0

40,457

2014

22,367

22,473

164

0

45,004

2015

23,850

20,711

10

0

44,571

2016

25,072

17,822

0

0

42,894

In 2016, there was an increase (5.1%) in the number of S½
smolts produced but a decrease (13.9%) in the number of S1 smolts
produced. There was no production of S1½ and S2 smolts in
2016.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production
systems during 2012-2016

System

No. of sites with system

Total capacity, 000's cubic metres

Year

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Cages

43

44

41

38

38

349

372

351

355

400

Tanks and Raceways

57

58

55

49

49

51

64

65

47

46

Total

100

102

96

87

87

400

436

416

402

446

The principal types of facility used for the production of
smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2016, the
number of farms using cages and tanks and raceways remained the
same as in 2015. In terms of volume, cage capacity increased by
45,000 m³ and tank and raceway capacity decreased by 1,000
m³. This resulted in a net increase in volume of 44,000
m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during
2016.

Table 16: Number (000's) of smolts produced and
stocking densities by production system during 2012-2016

Number of smolts produced (000's)

Stocking densities (smolts/m3)

Year

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Cages

26,882

20,910

22,816

18,135

15,884

77

56

65

51

40

All others

17,442

19,547

22,188

26,436

27,010

342

305

341

562

587

Total

44,324

40,457

45,004

44,571

42,894

-

-

-

-

-

The average stocking densities of cages decreased from 51 to 40
fish per m³ in 2016 compared to 2015 while densities in tanks
and raceways increased from 562 to 587 fish per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000's) of salmon ova produced
during 2009-2016

Year

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

No. of ova

91,964

91,655

78,208

57,489

56,904

33,450

11,605

13,689

In 2016, 13.7 million ova were stripped, an increase of 18% from
the number of ova produced in 2015.

Table 18: Source, number (000's) and previous
year's estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2005-2017

Year

In-house broodstock

Out-sourced
GB
broodstock

GB wild
broodstock

Foreign ova

Total

Previous year's estimate

2005

43,261

22,465

71

9,896

75,693

65,741

2006

19,063

17,768

63

27,157

64,051

58,385

2007

18,837

14,366

78

42,022

75,303

68,032

2008

19,831

14,261

171

26,409

60,672

75,302

2009

17,148

20,158

65

30,200

67,571

64,693

2010

13,744

26,220

0

29,657

69,621

61,011

2011

15,664

14,630

0

34,322

64,616

54,526

2012

18,556

9,981

0

34,700

63,237

55,723

2013

16,996

8,263

0

41,315

66,573

49,249

2014

14,418

2,725

10

53,684

70,837

48,149

2015

6,479

223

10

61,463

68,175

65,284

2016

5,884

4

0

58,458

64,346

59,604

2017

60,673

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 64.3 million, a
decrease of 3.9 million (5.6%) on the 2015 figure. The majority of
the ova (90.8%) were derived from foreign sources, this being a
decrease of 3.0 million (4.9%) on the 2015 figure. Supplies derived
from
GB broodstock decreased by
0.8 million, a 12.1% decrease on the 2015 figure. No ova from
GB wild broodstock were
laid down in 2016, however, in previous years the ova derived from
wild stocks were generally held and hatched for wild stock
enhancement by the aquaculture industry in cooperation with wild
fisheries managers.

Smolts Produced and Put to Sea

Table 19: Actual and projected smolt production
and smolts put to sea (millions) during 2007-2018

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Actual smolts put to sea

37.8

36.6

38.5

38.5

42.7

41.1

40.9

48.1

45.5

43.0

Smolts produced

38.1

36.4

36.9

36.9

43.6

44.3

40.5

45.0

44.6

42.9

Estimated production

41.2

34.9

32.6

28.7

35.9

31.3

28.1

39.9

43.4

36.6

39.3

43.3

Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced

2.0

1.7

1.8

1.9

1.5

1.4

1.6

1.6

1.5

1.5

The figure for the number of smolts put to sea includes smolts
produced in England and fish imported from elsewhere, whereas smolt
production data relate only to those produced in Scotland. Farmers
estimate putting 39.3 million smolts to sea in 2017. The ratio of
ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2016 was same as the
ratio in 2015.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by
numbers (000's) of smolts produced during 2003‑2016

Year

Scale of production

No. of sites in production

Total smolts produced

1-10

11-25

26-50

51-100

101-250

251-500

501-1,000

>1,000

2003

2

0

7

20

32

31

12

10

114

44,414

2004

3

3

9

14

31

22

18

7

107

39,999

2005

2

1

4

15

25

22

21

4

94

36,326

2006

1

4

2

9

19

21

18

10

84

40,827

2007

2

2

4

7

21

21

14

11

82

38,125

2008

2

1

5

8

21

20

15

9

81

36,450

2009

0

0

3

7

14

18

10

12

64

36,868

2010

1

0

4

4

16

15

10

14

64

36,872

2011

1

0

4

5

11

14

9

17

61

43,626

2012

0

0

1

3

19

14

11

13

61

44,324

2013

1

0

1

7

14

14

7

14

58

40,457

2014

0

0

2

1

11

9

14

13

50

45,004

2015

1

1

2

4

9

11

16

11

55

44,571

2016

1

1

0

3

7

11

13

12

48

42,894

Note: These data refer only to sites producing smolts. The sites
holding only ova, fry or parr are excluded.

The number of sites producing smolts in 2016 was 48. The number
of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has decreased by three
and there has also been a decrease of five in the number of sites
producing between 101,000 and one million smolts. The number of
sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year increased
by one.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing in 2016, ova laid down to
hatch in 2015-2016, smolt production in 2015-2016 and estimated
production in 2017-2018 by region

Region

Number of staff employed in 2016

Ova laid down to hatch (000's)

Smolt production (000's)

Estimated smolt production (000's)

F/T

P/T

2015

2016

2015

2016

2017

2018

North West

132

29

36,668

31,637

24,788

23,787

17,036

21,531

Orkney

1

3

55

0

142

150

150

150

Shetland

26

0

7,473

7,834

3,372

3,428

5,300

5,300

West

63

8

17,433

17,363

9,625

10,386

11,289

11,160

Western Isles

22

2

5,596

6,460

4,823

3,785

4,382

4,450

East and South

8

0

950

1,052

1,821

1,358

1,127

720

All Scotland

252

42

68,175

64,346

44,571

42,894

39,284

43,311

In 2016, the North West and the West were the main areas where
ova were laid down to hatch. The North West, the West and the
Western Isles were the main smolt producing areas. The greatest
number of staff were employed in the North West region.

International Trade in Ova

Since the introduction of the
EU single market on 1
st January 1993 and the associated Fish Health
Regulations common to all
EU member states, a trade
in live salmon and ova has been established. In addition, the
European Economic Area (
EEA) agreement
allows trade between the
EU and the member states
of the European Free Trade Association (
EFTA). Trade is
based on the same rules as are established within the
EU regarding compartments
and zones declared free from listed diseases.

Trade with Third Countries has also been established, but only
from sites that have met the same health standards as are
established within the
EU regarding the approval
of farms and zones for listed diseases. Exports to countries
outside the
EU are subject to the
health conditions placed by the importing country. Marine Scotland
Science advises potential exporters to ascertain with the importing
country any specific health testing requirements that may be a
condition of import.

Table 22a: Source and number (000's) of salmon
ova, parr and smolts imported during 2004-2016 derived from
health certificates

Import Year

Ova

Parr and Smolts

EU Member
States

EFTA

Third Countries

Total

EU Member
States

EFTA -
Norway

Iceland

Norway

Australia

USA

2004

4,450

3,475

6,750

1,860

450

16,985

824

0

2005

2,610

570

13,210

0

450

16,840

150

0

2006

11,575

300

15,940

2,400

0

30,215

375

0

2007

10,511

0

33,555

0

0

44,066

420

0

2008

5,600

0

22,703

0

0

28,303

519

0

2009

5,460

0

29,938

0

0

35,398

328

0

2010

2,150

0

26,533

0

0

28,683

452

0

2011

3,400

0

35,851

0

0

39,251

800

0

2012

10,134

0

23,849

0

0

33,983

0

0

2013

10,700

2,719

35,044

0

0

48,463

55

0

2014

5,218

3,813

49,831

0

0

58,862

1,602

1,748

2015

4,815

8,978

45,926

0

0

59,719

2,118

365

2016

5,444

5,324

38,602

0

0

49,370

1,956

0

The numbers of ova imported decreased by 17.3%. The number of
parr and smolts imported decreased from that observed in 2015, with
only 1.9 million parr and smolts imported from
EU member states.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000's) of
salmon ova, parr and smolts exported during 2005-2016 derived
from health certificates

Export year

Farmed origin ova

Total

Parr and Smolts

Chile

EU

Norway

Others

2005

8,560

3,130

0

1,566

13,256

1,362

2006

26,930

4,312

0

0

31,242

998

2007

32,150

164

0

0

32,314

2,169

2008

62,185

130

0

15

62,330

551

2009

7,181

317

0

0

7,498

89

2010

0

189

600

0

789

130

2011

0

0

0

820

820

183

2012

0

0

0

0

0

55

2013

0

650

0

0

650

404

2014

0

0

0

0

0

259

2015

0

93

0

2

95

8

2016

0

335

0

23

361

173

In 2016, 361,000 ova were exported. Parr and smolt exports
increased by 165,000 fish on the 2015 figure.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and
number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2008-2016

Year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

No. of sites

80

68

70

67

63

63

56

55

47

No. of fish (millions) vaccinated

36.7

39.6

42.6

49.2

48.1

47.5

44.7

48.0

42.6

Vaccines were used to provide protection against furunculosis,
infectious pancreatic necrosis (
IPN),
ERM, vibriosis
and salmonid alphavirus (
SAV). The majority
of fish were vaccinated against furunculosis and
IPN, with
smaller numbers of fish being vaccinated against
ERM, vibriosis
and
SAV. A total of 42.6
million fish were vaccinated across 47 sites.

Escapes

In 2016, there were no reported escapes from sites rearing
freshwater Atlantic salmon.